


almost f o r g o t t e n

by cosmics (Cosmics)



Category: The Grisha Trilogy - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, alina's name is ash, art student!alina, art student!darkling, jock!mal, mal's is matt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-13
Updated: 2016-01-23
Packaged: 2018-03-22 17:59:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3738202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cosmics/pseuds/cosmics
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Who are you?”<br/>he asks.</p><p>“No one.”</p><p>“You can’t be<br/>no one<br/>if you’re right in front of me.”</p><p>I stay quiet.</p><p>“Your name is Asha.<br/>You go by Ash,”<br/>he tells me.</p><p>I nod.<br/>“We have Napoleonic History together.”</p><p>“And English Lit<br/>and Art.”</p><p>“You’re in my art class?”</p><p>“I sometimes see your paintings.”</p><p>“Why don’t I ever see you?”</p><p>“I’m a sculptor.<br/>I work in the back of the class.”<br/>He looks at his hands.<br/>I look at them too.<br/>They’re covered in clay.</p><p>“What do you sculpt?”</p><p>But he’s already gone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I. The Beginning

His trench coat is  
black.  
His trousers and button down shirt are  
black.  
His dress shoes are  
black.  
His hair is  
black.  
His eyes are  
grey.  
But his skin is very  
pale  
and his gaze is  
blank.

He is the Darkling  
and he sits next to me in my Napoleonic History class.

Everyone knows him.  
Everyone knows who he is.  
He is the most powerful Grisha  
in the world  
and next to him I feel utterly  
insignificant.

He never moves his eyes off the board  
but he must feel people  
stare  
at the back of his head  
in class.  
Everyone wonders why he’s here,  
in this school,  
taking regular  
ot’kazatsya courses.

No one has asked.  
Everyone is too afraid  
of him.

I know I am.

I keep my eyes locked on the board  
too.

The girls whispered  
in circles the first day  
he’d set foot in our school,  
giggling and hiding their blushes  
behind their hands.  
They all loved him,  
thought he was so handsome.

I’ve been too afraid  
to get a good look.

When I got placed next to him,  
I immediately became a target  
even though we’ve never said  
a word  
to each other.

The girls are jealous.  
They shouldn’t be.  
He doesn’t even look at me.

Not that he looks at them either.  
He seems oblivious to all attention.

...

“Who are you?”  
he asks.

“No one.”

“You can’t be  
no one  
if you’re right in front of me.”

I stay quiet.

“Your name is Asha.  
You go by Ash,”  
he tells me.

I nod.  
“We have Napoleonic History together.”

“And English Lit  
and Art.”

“You’re in my art class?”

“I sometimes see your paintings.”

“Why don’t I ever see you?”

“I’m a sculptor.  
I work in the back of the class.”  
He looks at his hands.  
I look at them too.  
They’re covered in clay.

“What do you sculpt?”

But he’s already gone.

…

I see him the next day  
in the back of the room  
like he said.  
He stands there among  
busts and vases.

He feels me staring.  
He looks up.

I look away.

…

“How was your day,  
Ash?”  
Matt drives me home.

“Okay, how was yours?”

“I pulled a muscle in my thigh  
during practice,  
so not fantastic.  
But it is what it is,  
right?”

I nod.

“So Sam told me  
that you’re sitting next to that Darkling guy  
in that weird history class  
you’re taking.  
What’s he like?”

“I wouldn’t know,  
we’ve only talked once.”

“Stay away from him if you can,  
okay Ash?  
I don’t like you near him.”

“Okay.”  
I agree.  
My fingers are crossed behind my back.


	2. II. High Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Asha is the Sun Summoner, and everything is making her angry.

I’ve been normal my whole life.   
I just have.   
And now I’m   
not.   
I was walking home yesterday  
and a man came out of nowhere and   
tried to grab me.

I burned   
him to a   
crisp.

I am like the Darkling.   
I am   
Grisha.   
I am the   
Sun Summoner.

It looks like I may have to drop out of school.

+++

The Darkling takes a little more  
interest in me  
once he realizes what I am.

He offers to include me  
in private lessons he gets  
from a special Grisha professor here.  
He needs me for something special,  
he said.  
He thinks I will solve  
all of his  
problems.  
His face is full of hope.  
I agree  
with the contingency  
that I am allowed to continue  
my normal classes.

I want to stay near Matt.

+++

The next week  
passes without  
incident  
and somehow  
I manage to keep my  
non-promise  
to Matt.

It’s kind of hard  
not to keep it  
when the  
Darkling  
has gone back  
to ignoring me  
and everyone else,  
as if I was never identified  
as the Sun Summoner.

He doesn’t even  
look at me anymore  
and for some reason that  
bothers me.  
We barely spoke before  
and now I am  
pining  
over him.

Matt seems to notice  
something  
is wrong,  
besides the obvious.  
I’m no longer  
acting like a  
love sick puppy  
around him anymore.  
I no longer look  
scrawny and  
small.

He had to know I was  
in love  
with him.  
He had to.  
But he still goes  
and throws himself  
at other girls.

Now he’s noticing.  
I don’t know whether to feel  
happy about it,  
or bitter.  
I’m leaning toward  
the latter.

Maybe I’m just  
a bitter person.

Those are the thoughts  
coursing through my mind  
as I’m painting.  
I’m using  
greys and  
blacks  
with swirls of white  
edged through everything.

It’s not turning out  
how I want it to.  
Nothing is.

In my anger  
and bitterness,  
I slam my paint brush  
down  
and stomp  
to the back of the class  
and demand that the  
Darkling  
teach me how to sculpt.  
Or at least show me his work  
since he’s seen mine.

He stares at me for a second  
in awe  
just like everyone else in the room  
but regains his composure  
way before them.  
Almost immediately.  
And then he’s acting as if  
he expected this of me  
all along.  
“Okay.”

“Okay.”  
I pull a stool over  
to sit next to him.  
Girls are  
glaring  
daggers  
at the back of my  
head,  
even stronger than usual  
now that I’m the  
Sun Summoner.

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why give up your  
painting time  
to do this?”  
He looks like he wants  
to compliment me  
on my work for a second,  
or something of the sort,  
but then he thinks better  
of it.

“I’m frustrated.”

“With what?”

“The painting.  
Obviously.”

“Not that boy  
you like,  
what’s his name?  
Mark?”

“Matt.”

“He seems like  
he’s finally starting  
to notice you.  
Now that he sees  
that you’re better than him.”

“I don’t want to talk about this  
with you.”

He shrugs.  
“Okay.”  
We get to the sculpting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry it took me so long to update i'm a jerk i know


	3. III. Fools

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I tear my eyes away  
> from my less-than-brilliant work  
> to look up at his face.  
> He is bent,  
> half in shadows,  
> but he has never seemed  
> more beautiful  
> to me.  
> "Will you show me?"
> 
> He looks up at me.  
> "I will show you  
> everything."

My first attempt  
isn't what I thought  
it would be.  
He says that working with clay  
is like molding  
the Earth,  
that it takes time  
to make things  
the way you want them to be.

I don't have any other classes after Art,  
so the Darkling and I  
stay together.  
He teaches me how  
to make things  
the way I want them to be.  
He shows me  
how to drape  
and throw  
and smooth  
and manipulate.  
He tells me  
about what he needs me for.

"My ancestors messed up,"  
he says,  
out of the blue.  
"They really did.  
They put that split  
in the Earth,  
the Fold.  
They made people  
hate  
Grisha like us.  
All I want for my people  
is a good life."  
Though there is slight  
aggravation  
in his voice,  
his hands remain steady  
and calm  
on the clay.

"And that is why  
I am to start training  
with a new professor?  
Because you need me  
to close  
the Fold?"

"Your power will  
balance  
mine.  
You can outdo  
what the others have done.  
Professor Barbara  
will show you how."

"Did she teach you  
as well?"

He's quiet for a second,  
his hands paused  
in their action.  
"Yes, though once I  
outgrew her,  
I learned how to  
discover things  
on my own."

I tear my eyes away  
from my less-than-brilliant work  
to look up at his face.  
He is bent,  
half in shadows,  
but he has never seemed  
more beautiful  
to me.  
"Will you show me?"

He looks up at me.  
"I will show you  
everything."

+++

My first class  
with Professor Barbara  
is a week after we  
stayed in the art room.

The Darkling picks me up  
in his sleek black car  
that matches  
his sleek black coat  
and his sleek black hair  
and his sleek grey eyes.  
"Are you ready?"  
he asks.

I just nod.

Professor Barbara is scary,  
and as soon as I walk in  
she sends me a glare  
that could freeze rapids.  
"This is the one?"  
she asks the Darkling.

"This is her,"  
he nods.

Professor Barbara  
gives me an icy once-over  
again.  
"Doesn't look like much,"  
she grumbles,  
"but she'll do.  
Now get out,"  
she says to him.

He says,  
"Don't let her intimidate you,  
she's just an old woman,"  
to me  
and then he's gone.

"Here are the rules, child:  
you do what I say,  
and maybe I can do something  
for you.  
Otherwise, you'll be out of here  
faster than you can cough."

"Yes, Professor."

"Don't call me that."  
She scowls,  
"Just Barbara.  
But don't think  
that means I'm your friend.  
I'm not."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Better.  
Now, let's get to it."

I've never been more  
scared in my life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm lazy I know but at least this update was a little quicker?


End file.
